googleprint

[stubbornhubby]

my children were named long ago, but if i was naming a child now one of my biggest areas for thought would be : is it better to have an unusual name, so that people can find you on google and facebook, or a 'john smith' type name where you will always be difficult to locate.

there are pros and cons, and I think it's an interesting one.

I have an unusual surname - (less than 500 people in the world it seems) and so every one of my family have unique names, and are easy to find on google and facebook. I think our experience of modern life is shaped quite strongly by this.

I am interested to know if other people debate this, and which side do come down on one? Do you go for a rare name, or a thousands of 'em?

Did this ever occur to you? It doesn't seem to be discussed on MN (or at least I couldn't find it in a search)

[LittleCheesyPineappleOne]

It's a really interesting question, and one which has gone through my mind. As a result, my two soon to be three DCs have ungoogleable names - a fairly common surname, a classic but not too common first name - but if you google them you get pages and pages of people. Whilst you never knew what sort of technology will be around the corner, it was certainly something that crossed my mind when naming ours.

[ZacharyQuack]

Googleprint is a lovely name, so unique.

[CaptainNancy]

It was important to us- unique surname in UK, google any of us and we're the top link. We discounted one name because there was already a person of that name.
My children should have little problem taking their names as domain names if they want to.
The positives are that we are SEO... that is also a negative, and I'm quite careful about anonymity, and use different avatars across different sites (eg fb, twitter, ebay, mn, flickr etc)

[kizzibear]

I never thought about this but just started google searchs on all my name choices with surnames, and we are on to winners, in terms of no other people with the name. yay.

[wukter]

Why not Guygle-Prynt, it's more uneek.

seriously, though, it's an interesting question. I'd lean towards an un-googleable name, leaves the control in their hands as to who can get information about them.

[TotorosOcarina]

I'd go for Gogyle Prince.

Much nicer.

[stubbornhubby]

an anonymous 'john smith' type name has obvious advantages -

but then ask either of the Duncan Campbells who BOTH work for the Guardian whether it has helped them, or hindered.

and (OK extreme example I know, but you get the point) robbie williams has definitely had problems in the USA because every one confuses him with Robin

It is an interesting one.. there are definite pros and cons.

[Sunlightdances]

I'm the only one of me on the internet and it can get odd to know that I'm the only result when I'm searched for.

I've checked my partner's last name with my first and reassuringly discovered that there are several others, should I change my name, if we ever got married. I would still be the only one in the UK, however!

[allieballiebee]

Ha, I just googled my kids names and my DD2 has one of the most unuckiest names in the world apparently!!

There are a couple of others out there with my kids names, so there will probably be a high chance they'll be google-able when they're older. Saying that though, once they are old enough to have an internet presence, there may be more of them online so it'll be harder?

[bigbluebump]

To me the advantages of having a unique (in the sense of less popular) far outweigh any negatives.

It is also much easier to remember someone's name (whereas I know so, so many adult Steve's that I honestly struggle to remember a new one ).

To me the whole point of 'naming' something or someone is to uniquely identify it/him/her. It just makes life easier and creates less confusion.

[sonniboo]

Why would anyone give their child a 'thousands of them' name on purpose?

Agree with previous poster that the idea of naming something/one is to identify it.

[AbsofCroissant]

Never thought about it to be honest. I kind of like that for my current name, I don't appear at all (paranoid), but the name is still kind of different - I've never met another person with the same name (first and last) as me .

Have just googled my first name with DP's surname and on that search, someone who runs a jazzercise class came up. I like

[CaptainNancy]

Exactly bigbluebump! I have a fairly uncommon name and whenever people mention the name in conversation they are always referring to me. Colleagues with names such as Chris, Michelle, Dave etc have to constantly check which Chris it is that needs to do something.

[mopsyflopsy]

Are there ANY benefits to having a 'John Smith' type name?

I too know so many Mikes, Steves, Daves etc that I always need to add their surname when talking about them...

There are SO many lovely names out there, surely we can all try a bit harder to try and give our children less common names.

[ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave]

DH has a dead common surname so even with fairly unusual first names there are a few Google hits for both the DCs' names and for our likely names for DC3. DS is also a bad teenage poet from NZ and a Scottish golf pro, while DD is a former Olympic shotputter and an amateur Gilbert & Sullivan singer. Both are unusual enough that firstnamelastname.com hadn't gone, though, and we've registered those domain names for the DCs in case they want to use them later in life.

My first name used to be unusual and I spent most of my life up to my late 20s knowing that if I heard it it was always someone talking to/about me. Now it's become popular and is on an army of small girls and it's very offputting as I keep turning around in shops when I hear my name called.

[domesticsluttery]

It isn't something that I have ever thought of, but I have just checked and there are 495 people on Facebook with DS1's name, 47 with DS2's name and 54 with DD's name. Which is strange actually as in their school DS1 is the only person with his first name but there are 2 of DD and 3 of DS2!

I think their names are nicely in the middle ground, not too common but not too unusual either.

[Flighttattendant]

I think somewhere in between is best.

I searched ds1's name and weirdly, a character from Dallas came up! Very handsome but looks remarkably like ds1, only a bit older...

Try it with different names, on google images - you often find several results who look very alike. Spooky.

[iskra]

This is definitely something I thought of. There is nobody on Facebook with DD's full name, & on google there are only dead people. She has a reasonably uncommon first name, & a fairly uncommon surname. My surname is even more uncommon than DP's, & my family are the only ones that come up on Google.

[BettyButterknife]

8 people on FB with DS1's name, which is also the name of a park in Texas. 6 people on FB with DS2's name.

I am the only person on FB with my name, and google brings up one other person - an elderly lady in the USA :)

I'd definitely rather have a relatively unusual name. Hadn't thought about registering domain names for DSes - might do that...

[GladioliBuckets]

I think everyone has to take responsibility for their own identity security in this day and age so no, I don't see it as a problem for the next generation of kids. They will be sorting out our security for us.

There's a difference between being found on FB and having your info accessible to any old finder.

But in answer to the question, I had a unique-ish name combo before marriage and I loved it (an ex-boyf said I sounded like a secret agent!). Now I have a v dull surname and my first name is now incredibly common - I would have hated that at school. For this reason all my DCs have fairly unusual names.

[wouldliketoknow]

it never crossed my mind, but i am going to goggle ds name see what happens...

[ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave]

Having gone and checked...

11 people on FB with DS's name. Two with DD's name. None with likely girl's name for DC3. Five with likely boy's name for DC3.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I'm pretty much unique - there seem to be a couple of probably now-departed americans with my name, thats all.

Fortunately my hits are mostly thing like publications but it does mean that I avoid any online discussions which aren't anonymous.

DH always worries a bit that with his unusual surname we're too easy to find should anyone bear a grudge (his example, someone he's turned down for a job).

[Gretl]

I have a verrrrry common name and it has advantages - however, it's not great for business.
DH has a very unique name and I'm envious. I don't want to change my name, but I do covet his ever so slightly.
I was happy for our children to have his name. Being the only one (unusual forenames too) will be an advantage. However, I suppose it's only a slight advantage, and also, it's only an advantage so long as you're happy to be known (and not notorious).